Review: RoMa Craft Tobac CroMagnon Firecracker

One of the fun projects in the cigar industry is a recurring annual release from Two Guys Smoke Shop. Originally launched in 2007, David Garofalo had Jose Don “Pepin” Garcia produce a short cigar with a pig tail cap approximating a fuse. That release has become a tradition, changing factories through various incarnations.

The 2016 release comes from RoMa Craft Tobac and Skip Martin as the CroMagnon blend, produced in a 3-1/2x50 format. The release is limited to only 200 boxes, and is likely long sold out by the time of this review.

My cigar came by way of an in person cigar bomb by Cigar Federation member Shooter, while we were down in Las Vegas for the IPCPR.

Vitola: Short Robusto

Size: 3-1/2” x 50 Ring Gauge

Wrapper: Connecticut Broadleaf

Binder: Cameroon

Filler: Nicaraguan (Esteli, Condega, Pueblo Nuevo)

Cigars Smoked for this Review: One each

Price Point: $6.00 MSRP

Cigar Purchased: Cigar Bomb from Shooter

Quick Note: For this review we used Logan’s rating system. You can view it in detailhere.

Check out my video review here:

Review:

Knowing the strength of the CroMagnon blend, I prepared for the review by eating a heavy meal and then cleansing my palate with some soda water.

The nose is very heavy leather with some cedar underneath. The Firecracker has a closed foot and I’m not able to pick up anything else.

I opted for a straight v-cut on the fuse cap, and it made a clean cut. The draw was very tight.

The flavor profile starts out far milder than I anticipated with some nice sweetness, faint pepper, and then cedar and leather that carries into the post draw. The retrohale brings some rich spices and sweetness, with some pepper bringing a reasonable bite to the finish.

The sweetness continues to build, as does the pepper, reminding me of a hot pepper in the back of my throat. The post draw leather also continues to build in a huge way as the first third settles in. The spices on the retrohale are rich, and complex. At the halfway point of the first third there’s a huge amount of earth and leather, and the strength of the cigar is already hitting home.

The profile on the Firecracker is big notes of earth and cedar transitioning into the middle third. The strength of the cigar just keeps building as the middle third settles in. I’m very glad I had two very large bowls of pasta before sitting down for the review. The earth and cedar start to settle down and the sweetness comes back. I would describe it as a honeydew sweetness with a short finish.

In the last third the sweetness does a great job of pushing back against that big post draw leather. It continues to build throughout the entire last third.

Total smoking time 1 hour and 3 minutes.

The RoMaCraft CroMagnon Firecracker definitely lived up to its namesake. Overall I found the cigar too full bodied for my palate, but that doesn’t take away from the fact that it was a good cigar.